Zappos Classmate

Order Description
REPLY TO FOLLOWING CLASSMATES SHAQUANA AND TAKEISHA TO THE ORIGINAL DISCUSSION QUESTION THAT THEY ANSWERED WHICH WAS:
DISCUSSION QUESTION: WHAT CHALLENGES IS ZAPPOS FACING THAT MAY DERAIL ITS ATTEMPT TO BE THE BEST ONLINE RETAILER? HOW CAN TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT HELP ZAPPOS MEET
THESE CHALLENGES? DO YOU THINK THAT EMPLOYEES AT ZAPPOS HAVE HIGH LEVEL OF ENGAGEMENT? WHY WHICH OF ZAPPO’S TEN CORE VALUES DO YOU BELIEVE TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT CAN
INFLUENCE THE MOST? THE LEAST? WHY? (REFER TO UPLOADS TO SEE THE BACKGROUND)
PLEASE REPLY TO EACH CLASSMATE IN 200-300 WORDS EACH. USE 3 REFERENCES EACH. DO NOT USE UK, BRITISH, OR LONDON REFERENCES.
BOOK REFERENCE IS EMPLOYEE TRAINING & DEVELOPMENT BY Raymond a. Noe, MCGRAW Hill Education Publishing. 7th edition.
SHAQUANA’S ORIGINAL POST:
When companies provide opportunities for future professional development, there is a slim chance to none that they may encounter high turnover rates. It does not
appear that that Zappos has a program or a path that focuses on developing future leaders within their company. Incorporating talent and training that leads to
management can attribute to employee loyalty and an increase in employee development (Noe, 2016). It appears that most employees that work at Zappos are Nonexempt, and
most of their culture is influenced by the trends obtained from social media. Because social media and Nonexempt wages are typically associated with Millennials, they
may not see the importance of working so hard towards a career goal in retail.
Perhaps if Zappos incorporates a system or a program where Millennials can work towards becoming a manager, they may invest their time, devotion, and performance to
strengthen their efforts of being considered for a promotion (kenblanchard.com). Retaining employees can not only increase a company’s bottom line, but also improve
their reputation as a best company to work for. Although Zappos provides many tangible incentives to their employees that wish to remain employed or depart from the
company, compensation is not the overall expectation for employee retention. “Many people regard leaders as naturally gifted with intellect, personal forcefulness, and
enthusiasm” (Sanders, 2007, p. 18). Being promoted to a leadership role gives many individuals an opportunity to display their strengths and capabilities of taking on
more responsibilities that can enhance the direction of where the company is headed.
Zappos has been successfully recognized as #31 on Fortune Magazine’s Best Company to Work For back in 2013, so one can gather that the employees have a history of
being engaged. This company allows employees to reward their colleagues with spot bonuses for a job well done, as well as a $2,000 payout for new talent that does not
wish to pursue future employment during their mandatory training phase (Noe, 2016). Additionally, the CEO has invested a hefty amount of money into the company
headquarters because he wants the employees to feel welcomed and build relationships professionally and socially within and outside of the company.
I believe that most of Zappos’ core values can have a strong influence on training and development. However, 4-6 are the driving forces that lead to 7-10 because the
employees have to learn the tools and organizational culture that encourages positivity and the importance of being humble while achieving professional success. The
third core value may not necessarily have a strong influence on training and development because everyone has their own definition of creativity and quirkiness. “For
as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office” (Romans12:4 KJV). The company should be cautious in their delivery and expectation of
what is fun, as they need to consider cultural-differences to alleviate individual offenses and legal risks within the company.
Sources:
Holy Bible, King James Version. (2000). Grand Rapids, MI, United States.
Leadership Development Is Urgent and Important in Today’s Fast-Paced Business Environment. (2013). Kenblanchard.com. Retrieved 8 May 2017, from
https://www.kenblanchard.com/Leading-Research/Ignite-Newsletter/October-2013
Noe, R. (2016). Employee training and development (1st ed.).
Sanders, J. (2007). Spiritual leadership: Principles of excellence for every believer. Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers.
TAKEISHA ORIGINAL POST:
The competitive challenges that Zappos face which could impede on their aspirations of being the industry leaders in online retail entail drawing customers, product
diversification and inventory turnover or shipping speed (Noe, 2017). These strategic goals surround “customer-driven excellence” (Noe, 2017, p. 31) which impacts
their ability to attract and retain customers (Noe, 2017). Machin (2015) suggested that online retailer’s ability to optimize efforts by influencing consumer
purchasing behaviors, especially for millennials who have significant purchasing power, is key to success (para. 4,20). Therefore, strategic training and development
geared toward sound customer service practices could help Zappos meet these challenges (Noe, 2017). Noe (2017) outlined that with the surplus of information available
to keen customers, excellent customer service is an expectation (p. 31). Bell (2013) noted three key value propositions that training and development adds to customer
service which include content on customer’s preference, service or ability to meet customer’s needs, and experience on sound decision making (p. 38-39). Customer
retention trainings would enable Zappos to set realistic targets and monitor its effectiveness (Bolger, 2013).
Zappos structures their business culture around cultivating and maintaining a high level of employee engagement by their core values and commitment to hiring employees
who fit in well with their unique culture in order to inspire commitment, ownership, and passion about their work (Noe, 2017). Although Zappos was rated as the best
company to work for in 2013 which suggests high level of employee engagement (low turnover rate), they still have areas to improve as their surveys revealed a
disconnect (feeling of isolation) in one department which directly impacts employee engagement, attitudes, and commitment toward the company’s objectives (Noe, 2017).
Employees are actively involved in a learning experience when it comes to training and development (Hughey & Mussnug, 1997). Zappos core value of “purse growth and
learning” (Noe, 2017) can be influenced the most by training and development because this value is the very attribute of training which is learning by doing, and
development which is future orientated and associated with growth (Hughey & Mussnug, 1997). Zappos core value of “Be Humble” (Noe, 2017) is least likely to be
influenced by training and development because of the human emotion, situational occurrences, and engrained personality traits effects this core value. It is very
difficult to teach humility as a skill; however, it is possible for humility to be a learned behavior.
References
Bell, G. (2013). How Skillsoft stay ahead of the learning curve: Content, service and experience are crucial to customer satisfaction. Human Resource Management
International Digest, 21(6), 37-39.
Bolger, D. (2013, August 8). How Customer Retention Training Increases Profit & Productivity. Retrieved May 10, 2017, from Learn 2: https://learn2.com/how-customer-
retention-training-can-increase-productivity/
Hughey, A. W., & Mussnug, K. J. (1997). Designing effective employee training programmes . Training for Quality, 5(2), 52-57.
Machin, A. (2015, May). Three key challenges all online retailers should be ready for: How marketers should approach the new digital retail landscape . Retrieved May
10, 2017, from Branded : https://www.branded3.com/challenges-online-retailers/
Noe, R. A. (2017). Employee training and development (7th ed.). New York : McGraw Hill Education .